Friday, December 23, 2011

Best of the season and see you in 2012

The Canadian Magazines blog takes a brief break at this time of year. There will be no posts until January 2, 2012. Thanks to all of you who read, provoke, inspire, tip and comment. The best of the season to you and yours.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Magazines which have been paying close attention to their Facebook presence are backing the right horse according to comScore data, reported by Business Insider. It shows that, in the U.S. market at least, 95% of the time spent on social networking is done on Facebook. Web publisher Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint, who provided the data, says:

"There’s now no question that 'social' means 'Facebook.'" And if you want to be in front of consumers, you have to figure out a way to be in their Facebook news feed."

Interesting story in Maclean's magazine by Quebec bureau chief Martin Patriquin detailing a "two-faced" approach by Quebecor and its combative president, Pierre Karl Peladeau towards the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Using letters (which he publishes) obtained through an Access to Information request, Patriquin points out several glaring contradictions, including that Peladeau and his acolytes (e.g. Sun News's Ezra Levant) attack the very existence of the CBC at the same time as Peladeau is writing personal letters and faxes demanding that the CBC advertise in Quebecor publications.

Doubtless, Péladeau’s anti-CBC campaign is at least partly ideological. What unites the differing editorial stances of his English and French properties, apart from their visceral dislike of the public broadcaster, is a populist, free-market ideology of lower taxes and less regulation. Though it has its own public sector connection: roughly 45 per cent of Quebecor Media Inc., Quebecor’s media group, is owned by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the province’s pension manager funded in large part by taxpayer dollars.

(As readers of this blog will know, Quebecor is the publisher of the largest group of French language magazines in Quebec, in addition to its holdings in daily and community newspapers, TV and cable.)

Derek Finkle, the director of the Canadian Writers Group is planning to launch a pay-as-you-go online digital publishing venture this spring to market single, long-form articles in much the way that this is now being done by Byliner and Guardian Shorts.

According to a story by Jason McBride in the January 1, 2012 issue of Quill & Quire magazine, the as-yet-unnamed company is part of a growing trend towards new models for the publishing and monetizing of non-fiction writing, comparable to e-books. Byliner, for instance, markets original articles for from $0.99 to $5.99.

Finkle, who represents about 120 writers across the country ... is frustrated by both the shrinking magazine and newspaper markets and by how writers are being squeezed out of revenues generated by new digital platforms....

“No one is fostering and paying talent in this country,” he says. “And there are really very few places left to publish long-form stuff.” Unlike Byliner, Finkle also intends to focus on local stories, at lengths and depths that newspapers and magazines can’t realistically accommodate.

Finkle can imagine publishing, say, a controversial story about a Bay Street law firm that would potentially be downloaded by tens of thousands of lawyers taking the train home from work, with each reader actively contributing to the writer’s bottom line. “It’s subversive,” he says. “It’s an entrepreneurial opportunity that magazine writers haven’t had before. If you can make $40,000 on a story, that’s a game changer.”

Thursday, December 15, 2011

There's a new Canadian online resource available to journalists covering health policy issues: EvidenceNetwork.ca. It's a non-partisan web-based project funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Manitoba Health Research Council. It links journalists with health policy experts to provide access to credible, evidence-based information, particularly the latest evidence on controversial health policy issues (such as wait times, health care costs and spending, the aging population and so on.)

"When health related stories crest the top of the fold, we want the stories to be based on evidence, not whimsy," says a release from the organization....

"Our experts are ready and able to answer journalists’ questions and connect journalists with the evidence on issues in Canadian health policy. The experts were chosen based on standing in the health policy research/academic community, publishing record, ability to communicate in lay language, the absence of lobbying affiliations, and region. EvidenceNetwork.ca understands the time constraints that journalists labour under and has asked each of the experts to respond to media inquiries within a two hour timeframe, whenever possible."

There's still time to register for one of the professional development magazine courses offered in the Magazine and Web Publishing program at Ryerson's Chang School, starting January 9. If you're thinking of taking one, register sooner rather than later; there is sometimes surprise and disappointment for people who put off registering to the last moment, only to find that a course has been cancelled for lack of enrollment. It's hard to estimate what people's intentions are. It's made more complicated with the extended Christmas/New Year's break.

MagNet magazine conference gets a new look

MagNet, the annual industry conference has been given a new look. A release from Magazines Canada says that the new logo, designed by K9 Design, is "bold, cool and vibrant". The 6th annual conference will be held June 5 to 8, 2012 in Toronto. It's a collaborative effort by Magazines Canada, Circulation Management Association of Canada and the Professional Writers Association of Canada.

The logo reflects the future-focused evolution of Canada's magazines. With its spinning circular motif, the image suggests the change that is a part of growth, while the strong vibrant colour accents embody the excitement MagNet generates annually among delegates and in the industry in general.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

To add to your "line extensions TK" file, consider the example of Rolling Stone magazine, which is launching a wine club, inspired by rock music.

The magazine has partnered with Wines That Rock, which creates wines with labels inspired by rock-and-roll album covers.

A one-year $12.95 subscription to Rolling Stone is included with the initial wine club membership, which costs $39.95 per shipment of three bottles of wine, four times a year plus $14.95 shipping and handling and tax (our math says that means a membership costs more than $240 a year and each bottle costs roughly $20.)

Each shipment offers a different set of wine, with current featured wines including the Grateful Dead Red Wine Blend, The Rolling Stones Merlot, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, The Police Synchronicity Red Blend and Woodstock Chardonnay.

(The wine club only delivers to addresses within the U.S and even then not to all 50 states, some of which have quantity or other restrictions.)

Dogs in Canada, which had announced the discontinuance of its print magazine and annual effective this month, but had said it was to continue in some form online, has apparently changed its mind.

According to a story in Masheadonline, all the staff at Apex Publishing, a subsidiary of the Canadian Kennel Club, were let go without notice on Monday. The magazine's website has been down since the announcement.

Followers of Regret the Error blogger Craig Silverman, who is based in Montreal, will be interested to learn that he is moving from being a weekly columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review to join the respected Poynter Institute. His blog will be moving to Poynter.org.

He reports happily that he will be able now to spend most of his time writing for the blog (and other Poytner blogs). His url is being redirected early next year.

One of the frustrations I’ve had with running this site is it’s never been more than a sideline. My day job has always been elsewhere, meaning I couldn’t jump on news quickly, or devote time to longer, reported pieces. I’ll now be able to do that, and a lot more, too. One of the best parts? The vast majority of the work I produce is going to be available free of charge. And that work will be produced in conjunction with the great and knowledgeable people at Poynter.

His move will mean he is stepping back to an advisory role with OpenFile, the online news site he helped to launch in 2010.

Regret the Error was launched in 2004 to report on media corrections, retractions and apologies and led to a book of the same name. Silverman has also been, and will continue to be, a weekly columnist for the Toronto Star. He is president of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC).

Magazines Canada to develop research program for the industry

Magazines Canada intends to develop a research centre for Canada's magazine media, to better meet industry's data needs and explore original research. It is one of the priorities for the next three years in a framework approved by the organization's board on November 28, following an 8-month review. The strategic plan covers the years 2012-2015.

Some of the framework is necessitated because of changing circumstances in the industry (for instance, the need for more affordable, accessible training); some because money is tight. Part of the plan is a reiteration of existing activities in circulation services, advocacy, professional development and communications. Reflecting the increasing importance of digital media, the adopted mission of the organization says, in part:

"Magazines Canada works to foster an environment where new magazines are nurtured, established magazines are supported and skills are developed. Its originating and continuing purpose is to promote the value of the sector wherever, whenever and however Canadian content is consumed." [emphasis added]

[This post has been updated] Maisonneuve magazine of Montreal is demonstrating some investigative muscle with a cover story in its winter 2011 issue exposing bid-rigging in the Montreal snow-removal industry. It's an impressive undertaking for a small magazine better known for its cultural coverage.

The story, by Selena Ross, is based in part on an analysis of 12 years of municipal contracts and complements recent stories about rampant corruption in the Quebec construction industry.
But it focusses on lawbreaking by contractors, employees and city bureaucrats specifically about snow-removal, activity that results inevitably in higher costs for the public for clearing the city's streets.

And with the corruption comes an escalating series of threats: sabotage, threats and physical violence.

“It’s a silent law that you don’t go bidding on a sidewalk contract in Montreal,” [a source] said. “You’re gonna end up in the river.”

The full story is available to subscribers and single copy buyers (the magazine is on the newsstands starting Friday 16th), but some of the key findings are enumerated on the magazine's website.

“It’s clear that collusion isn’t limited to the construction industry,” says Maisonneuve editor-in-chief Drew Nelles. “This groundbreaking investigation into snow removal is a wake-up call: the Quebec and Montreal governments need to take bid-rigging seriously, or taxpayers will continue to fund crime and corruption.”

[Update: Selena Ross has told J-source how she got the story and how it all started out by her wondering why so many pedestrians had been killed by snowplows in Montreal. One question led to another.]

Online entries are now being accepted for the Atlantic Journalism Awards. Go to www.ajasonline.org. or www.AJAs.ca There are 3 Atlantic magazine categories (in addition to other radio, television and new media).

Deadline for entries is Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Judging panels will select three finalists in each category, except for the Lifetime Achievement Award which has one finalist. The selected journalists will be honoured at a gala dinner and awards event at the Delta Fredericton on May 5, 2012.

Ultimately, our success in the magazine business requires that our intended audiences read for enjoyment. And a new study seems to indicate a serious erosion of the love of reading. Children are scoring better in reading tests, but they seem to be looking at reading as a chore, akin to homework.

People for Education reveals in a study that while reading scores have increased in elementary school, children’s enjoyment of reading has gone down.

The percentage of students in grade 3 who report they “like to read” has dropped from 75% in 1998/99 to 50% in 2010/11 and the number of students in grade 6 who “like to read” fell from 65% to 50% during the same period.

Patsy Aldana, co-chair of the National Reading Campaign said,

“The news in this report, that children in Ontario are losing their love of reading, is shocking. If reading scores are going up at the expense of children’s acquiring a love of reading we need to be very concerned. I hope policy makers take this as a wake-up call. After all, a love of reading underlies student achievement. It also opens the way for a life of pleasure and empowerment.

"Free choice in and out of school, a wonderful, abundant choice of reading materials and knowledgeable supportive teacher librarians are the best way to give children this joy. We seem to have forgotten why public education has such an important and fundamental role to play in our society—that of creating critical, thinking, empathetic citizens who have all the tools required to tackle the huge challenges that lie ahead. We believe that loving to read is the most important gift we can give our children."

The research compiled data from the provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)and from the OECD showing that reading enjoyment affects learning in all subjects as well as students’ sense of social and civic engagement.

Friday, December 09, 2011

Students pay their own way for northern package in current Ryerson Review

The just-released winter issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism, produced and written by students of the magazine publishing program is remarkable for several things:

The cover package is made up of four excellent articles about issues in Canada's north, a venture that was financed with about $10,000 of the students' own money. (If you don't believe it, on the inside back of the issue, they provide a detailed accounting of what they spent.)

The issue contains an excellent article about Heather Robertson by Regan Reid that tells the story about Robertson's pivotal role in the successful class action on behalf of freelancers and against Canada's largest publishers, but also tells the almost-more-interesting story of Robertson's amazing career as a muckraking reporter and author.

A takeout on Sun News reports on how provocation and subjectivity is growing an audience to the discomfort of the chattering classes.

There are teasers online about all the contents. But you'll have to buy the issue (or, better, be a subscriber) to support this important source of hard-to-find information about Canadian journalism. [Disclosure: I am the coordinator of the separate Magazine and Website Publishing program in Ryerson's Chang School for Continuing Education.]

Caught up belatedly with a new online literary publication called The Toronto Review of Books, which launched in September with little fanfare. It's the work of a team of volunteers led by editor Jessica Duffin Wolfe (who was for several years the reviews editor of Spacing magazine.) It is doing a good deal of interesting work already with a very Toronto sensibility (but not exclusively Toronto).

" The conversation about the value of reading is happening in the street. We’ll be there from Toronto, scattering what confetti we can in this international thoroughfare," Wolfe says in her first editorial.

It has an urban outlook that reflects its name and is launching its own speakers series called City WIDEN (Workshops for Interest, Discussion, Exchange and Novelty). It in turn is built upon the already existing WIDEN series started by Wolfe and which already runs at several Toronto universities and colleges: each event gathers three people from different fields to give short talks on a common theme.

For each City WIDEN, the magazine plans to partner with like-minded organizations and institutions to explore new spaces and ideas.

It also is offering podcasts, hosted by CBC Radio’s David Michael Lamb, to bring listeners recordings of public lectures and panels in Toronto.

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

A study of 12 major U.S. magazine companies and 112 brands shows that there is increasing access on digital platforms, though there is a wide variability of reader access across print, digital-only and combined print and digital.

For instance, the range of access of digital-only is from 27% for Wenner Media (Rolling Stone) to as little as 6% for Reader's Digest Assoc. and 7% for Meredith Corporation (Better Homes & Gardens et al) and Bauer Publishing (In Touch and Life & Style).

The American Magazine Study results were published by Affinity Research Inc. and the results were reported in Folio:.

Time Inc., with a collective readership of over 114 million readers, has the largest crossover of included publishers: its 18 brands are read in both print and digital forms by 30 percent of its demographic. 55 percent only use its print products, while 15 percent digitally access Time Inc. content.

Magazine publishers who rely on data mining their readers' use of online content or assisting their advertisers to do so may have some pause when they review the new guidelines unveiled by Canadian privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart. The guidelines are intended to restrict how marketers can track users and require them to allow users to opt out.

According to a story in the Financial Post, Stoddart says that Canadians privacy rights aren't always being respected:

“Many Canadians don’t know how they’re being tracked – and that’s no surprise because, in too many cases, they have to dig down to the bottom of a long and legalistic privacy policy to find out.”

While some people like receiving subsequent messages targetted to their interests, based on their web usage habits, others are extremely uncomfortable, said Stoddart.

“If an individual can’t say no to the technology being used for tracking or targeting, then the industry shouldn’t use that technology for behavioural advertising purposes,” she said.

“So, in the current online behavioural advertising environment, that means no use of web bugs or web beacons, no super cookies, no pixel hacks, no device fingerprinting and no to any new covert tracking technique of which the user is unaware and has no reasonable way to decline.”

Owning a "franchise" or an event is a huge boost to many magazines, providing not only ready editorial content but building reader and advertiser interest.

A good example is Wine Access magazine's annual Canadian Wine Awards issue this year featuring the winners from more than 1,117 wine entries, the results of a competition held last August in Halifax. In all the award gives out gold, silver and bronze medals in 22 categories.

The December/January issue containing the results is on the newsstands now. Wine Access is published by Calgary-based RedPoint Media Group.

"The Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards have become so much more than just another wine competition over the last decade," says Anthony Gismondi, Wine Access editor-in-chief [in a release]. "While it is an important annual snapshot of the state of Canadian wine, the results are far richer than any Polaroid or digital photo. Canadian wineries can use the CWAs to gauge their performance against the best this country has to offer. And many have performed brilliantly. This year, almost all of these wines improved for the better."

It is a story heard more often than not: a feisty, independent magazine purchased by a larger publishing entity, left to its own devices for some time then, slowly or abruptly, being relocated, seeing its budget slashed, losing longtime staff and somehow losing its soul. The example of ReadyMade comes to mind, shuttered by Meredith Corporation after purchasing it from its founders.

And, now, the decision by Ogden Publications to move the highly respected UtneReader from its Minneapolis, Minnesota base to Ogden's Kansas headquarters; the seven Utne staffers, including editor in chief David Schimke, have elected not to move with it, according to a story in Folio:

The magazine's production and editorial will now be done by other Ogden employees who are producing titles such as Mother Earth News, Grit and Motorcycle Classics.

Schimke says Ogden Publications may be planning to cut the literary digest’s budget in half, down from $500,000 to $250,000. He tells Folio:, "I don't think it was an editorial quality decision, it was about the affordability. Having a satellite office in this day and age is hard."

Ogden acquired Utne Reader in 2006. Utne was very well-known both for its added exposure of the best writing from indy magazines but also for its annual independent press awards, which (unlike many other U.S.-based awards programs) didn't ignore Canadian titles such as Geez or This Magazine. Whether the awards will continue under the magazine's straitened circumstances (and without the staff which made the selections) seems somehow doubtful.

Monday, December 05, 2011

It's with great regret that I noted the death late last week of Dugald Stermer, the art director who made Ramparts magazine sizzle in the '60s and set the pace for many an art director who followed in the business. It was Stermer's restrained design vision that put the gloss and visual energy in the "radical slick" style of the muckraking magazine.

The cover at the right was said by Stermer to be his favourite and showed him and the editors burning their draft cards in protest at the Vietnam war.

For Stermer, the fact that Ramparts was located in California was crucial. Because the magazine wasn’t based in New York, it was never expected to succeed. For this reason, [Howard] Gossage said later, the Ramparts staff was like a troupe of dancing bears: Their technique was less important than the fact that they could dance at all. But those low expectations allowed Stermer to innovate, and he made the most of his liberty.

Stermer didn’t read magazines or the alternative press, so he had no preconceptions of what Ramparts should look like. Mostly he was guided by his UCLA professor’s dictum that the best design is never noticed. To emphasize the magazine’s message rather than its look, Stermer set every line of type—the captions as well as the text—in Times Roman. Drawing on local styles, especially those developed by San Francisco printers Edwin and Robert Grabhorn, he produced an elegant design that grounded the magazine’s explosive stories and irreverent tone.

Real Weddings magazine and its companion website and directory, has been purchased by Canada Wide Media Limited from its founder Michael Alexander. The first issue of the biannual under new ownership will be spring 2012. It joins about 50 other titles published by Canada Wide, which does both consumer and contract published titles and, as the largest independent magazine publisher in Western Canada, has annual revenue in excess of $25 million.

"We are thrilled about this acquisition," stated Peter Legge, CEO and Chairman, Canada Wide Media Limited. "Real Weddings is a quality local magazine and a natural complement to our company. Real Weddings is the largest regional wedding magazine in B.C., and we are proud to add it to our stable of products and excited by the growth potential this brand presents."

Real Weddings specializes in wedding editorial for BC's lower mainland. Alexander said in the release:

"I am excited to see Real Weddings magazine become part of Canada Wide's broad portfolio of consumer magazines. The magazine has been my passion for the last 11 years and I have been delighted to produce a product that has been instrumental in inspiring top-notch wedding events and providing the best local advertising platform for businesses wanting to reach the lucrative wedding market.

In the first issue of Canadian Industry Online, readers can access interviews with key business leaders and innovators, including W. Brett Wilson, BESTECH, Bishop Water Technologies, 1,000 Island Airboats, Canadian Chemical Technologies, ABB Ber-Mac, and Dutchman Industries. The magazine also features an exclusive interview with Google's Canadian Engineering Director Steve Woods and covers events such as the Toronto Board of Trade's energy panel discussion with Joe Oliver (Canada's Minister of Natural Resources).

The premiere issue of Global Renewables Online covers a large scope of renewable activity in geothermal, wind, and solar sectors. The magazine examines critical issues such as public awareness of renewable energy as well as the significance of emerging economies in the development of the renewables industry. Exclusives from REN21 (partners of the United Nations Environment Programme) and Alexander Richter, Executive Director for the Canadian Geothermal Association, showcase the importance of renewable energy as a part of the global economy.

Digital magazines (such as tablet editions), companion websites of print magazine and online-only magazines will be eligible for entry in most categories, except Editorial Package and Print Magazine of the Year.

There are two, new visual categories: Fashion & Beauty has been divided into two distinct categories. The new Fashion category is open to any fashion layout using photogaphy or illustration. The new Beauty category is open to any beauty layout using photography or illustration.

Conceptual Photography has been renamed Creative Photography, with a revised definition.

All illustrations larger than half a page must be entered in Illustration and all smaller than half a page in Spot Illustation.

Definitions of Homes & Gardens and Photojournalism & Photo Essay have been updated.

All visual categories other than those for art direction (see comment) are open to all eligible digital magazines, though not web sites.

The separate categories for emerging magazine talent -- Best New Magazine Writer and Best New Visual Creator -- will be continued, with a $25 entry fee and prize money of $500.

Small changes have been made to definitions in written categories, particularly One of a Kind and Politics and Public Interest.

Xalt, which says it is the first exclusively Canadian tattoo, body modification and alternative lifestyle magazine, has announced it will launch as a quarterly in spring 2012. No word on circulation or advertising rates. A one-year subscription will be $13.95.

Focusing on Canadian tattoo artists, body modification artists and alternative lifestyle, Xalt will be the first print magazine of its kind, shining the spotlight on Canada’s unique talent and striving to exalt artforms often considered to be fringe [said a release from publisher and editor April Cross].

From issue to issue, Xalt will offer readers - through in-depth interviews and stunning photography – an inside look at established and up-and-coming artists, as well as give them a taste of alt lifestyles, such as roller derby, punk etc. Also included will be fashion and lifestyle products.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

[This post has been updated] Andrew Coyne, who jumped from the National Post in 2007 to become national editor of Maclean's has apparently jumped back to Postmedia. More to follow.
[Update: Coyne will be National Columnist for Postmedia News, which will put him not only in the National Post but in the entire Postmedia chain of daily papers starting in January.
He was a founding staffer at the National Post.

"It will be great to be in the National Post again, where I spent so many happy years before," Coyne said [in a Postmedia release]. "And it's an auspicious time to be joining Postmedia, which is on a roll these days, with columnists like Christie Blatchford, Stephen Maher, Michael Den Tandt, and the Post's John Ivison. It's good to see a newspaper company betting on quality, and it's even better to see them making a buck at it."

(The National Post recently announced that it had edged into profitability for the first time.)

The release quoted Paul Godfrey, president and CEO:

"We are thrilled to welcome Andrew back to the Post and to Postmedia. His thoughtful analysis and insight have made him a leader in Canada's public discourse.He is a tremendous addition to our team."

Penny Hicks promoted from ad director to publisher of Maclean's

Penny Hicks, the advertising director of Maclean's and l'actualite, has been named its publisher. A memo to staff from Lorraine Hoefler, senior group advertising director at Rogers Media, says:

Penny will be responsible for leading and championing Maclean’s both internally at Rogers Media and externally to various audiences and advertisers. She will manage a team of functional experts, including advertising sales and consumer marketing and will liaise with other centralized leaders in order to drive the various facets of the Maclean’s business. She will also work closely with Mark Stevenson, Editor of Maclean’s, on an editorial strategy that will ensure the continued engagement of our readers—so that we can continue to build on our circulation successes. For more than 10 years Penny has been employing strategic thinking to various roles in the media business with increasing responsibility and success. Most recently in her role as Advertising Director at Maclean’s, Penny has proven herself a passionate promoter of our magazines and the readers and audiences they serve. She’s smart and creative in the way she matches-up the strengths of our brands with the needs of our clients.

Hicks was previously manager, sponsorship and business development at Rogers Communications, having joined it from being a client manager at ZAQ Interactive Solutions and as an account executive at Toronto.com.